Chemists and other scientists frequently use analytical laboratory data in the form of chromatograms and fragmentograms generated by gas chromatography (GC) or gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) instruments. Such scientists have a need to view GC and GC-MS data via the Internet from their personal computers. It is known in the art that a GC or GC-MS trace can be converted to web-compatible graphic files such as JPEG or GIF formats. However, in doing so, the trace becomes a static image and loses resolution when zooming or stretching operations are performed. To overcome these drawbacks, programmers have used Java Applets in order to provide interactivity. However, issues related to Internet security have led to the installation of firewalls, most of which prohibit the downloading and execution of Java applications.